Group Emergency Coordination Centre

MEDIA RELEASE

13 December 2016, 12.20pm Release No: 10

Crews work in bad weather in bid to restore power

Eastland Network crews have been working in poor weather conditions west of Tiniroto this morning to restore power to the Gisborne region.

Spokesman Andrew Gaddum said the first conductor and all the gear is in place for lifting on to the power pylons on the 110kV transmission line, hopefully later today.

“It’s raining and blowing up there and all the guys are in full wet weather gear. This weather is causing problems for the helicopters helping with repair efforts.

“We are still on track for a late afternoon, early evening reconnection,” Mr Gaddum said. “Generators will continue to be used as much as possible. There are now dozens of generators in place around the city providing power to rest homes, and fuel and food outlets.”

Phone service providers are working hard, and cooperatively, to get the telecommunications back to full capacity.

Commercial business owners are advised to get their service providers to replace the batteries in their monitored fire alarms. If this is not possible, they should provide a security watch until power is restored.

Gisborne Hospital is operating as normal but elective surgery has been rescheduled.

Food safety has come to the fore as people go into a second day without power. Hauroa Tairawhiti advises that people:

1. wash and dry their hands before preparing food, using clean water and soap or hand sanitiser if possible

2. eat perishable foods, for example bread and meat, first as they spoil faster than non-perishable food

3. open the fridge or freezer as little as possible

4. throw out rotting or tainted food before it spoils other food.

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